Starting Over
by theblueone
Summary: This is a B/V that stays true to the characters but is AU. How can you start over when everything you are has been taken from you?


Insert standard disclaimer here.

**Starting Over**

**Prologue: Invasion**

_This isn't happening_.

Bulma stared at the plasma television in her living room. She'd been staring at the glossy screen for hours, her only company the eerie reflection of her overtired face superimposed over the illuminated images.

Goku was dead. _Dead_.

Unable to hold back the tears any longer, they flowed in silent streams down her pale face as she mutely listened to the announcer on the screen.

"The Z Senshi took an alarming hit today as Son Goku fell at the hands of Lord Freeza. Stay tuned for more coverage."

How could this be happening? Even the announcer sounded grim, his hope defeated along with the rest of the planet's. Without Goku's protection, it was over. Earth and its inhabitants were not going to survive, she knew. Bulma wasn't a defeatist, but she was practical. Immensely so. That's why when the fighting started she'd encouraged her parents to flee.

When Freeza had arrived a week earlier, most of the planet had been in celebration. Having no exposure to alien life previously, the siting of the strange ship had been surprising and exciting. But Capsule Corp scientists had known for decades that Earth's sentient life wasn't alone. Besides solidarity being statistically infeasible, Bulma's father had been working on technology that allowed the exploration of systems thousands of light years away. And the amount of life they found was astonishing.

Staring at the screen now, Bulma couldn't believe how unimaginably naïve they had all been. As if finding out they weren't alone meant that their new sentient counterparts were benevolent and had come to Earth like a welcoming committee.

It started with the arrival of Radditz, a large, burly man with a mane of unruly black hair. While his bone structure and brute proved to be more than just slightly in resemblance to Goku, his personality and bloodlust were in stark contrast. Claiming to be searching for "Kakarrot"—his long-lost brother—Radditz quickly became violent, especially when Goku refused to join forces.

The announcer that had been televising the encounter was beside himself as the talking between the alien and Goku rapidly turned to fighting. Earth's citizens were in an uproar.

The Z Senshi managed to take down the Saiyan, but not before nearly pushing themselves to the breaking point. But what terrified Bulma wasn't Radditz's strength. Sure, he'd nearly wiped them all out. But it was the ferocity of his attack that was truly horrifying. This was a man that would rather die than fail. And die, he did. Why? For what purpose?

Bulma considered what she knew about psychology. Starting with destructive personality types. Anti-social disorder. People who wanted to see everything burn. She didn't immediately dismiss it, but it wasn't quite right. She returned to the mental catalogue in her head, trying to identify what she saw in Radditz that had disturbed her.

A sociopath, perhaps? Men and women born without a moral compass. Right and wrong, good and bad, these were foreign concepts to them. Like trying to explain the sweet melody of a classic concerto to a deaf man. The essential equipment for complete understanding just wasn't there. Sociopaths could smile at you while they slit your throat. No guilt or remorse. Nothing. Radditz had certainly possessed that quality.

But what was it? Why didn't either of these labels feel right?

Bulma's heart dropped to her stomach as a flash of Radditz's face right before he died burned into her. He wasn't passive and wasn't filled with rage. He was relieved that death had finally found him.

Whatever had come to their planet had created Radditz. Stripped him of everything he was and rebuilt him. Made him into a killing machine.

Staring back at the screen, her friends dead, her family hidden away in the mountains, Bulma knew that this time, they weren't facing just an enemy, they were facing a monster. And not just any monster, a monster who _fabricated_ sociopaths.

And she was getting the fuck out.


End file.
